QUANT e-Sportlimousine Debuts at Geneva Motor Show – Range of 373 Miles

The zany NanoFlowcell QUANT e-Sportlimousine made it debut at the 2013 Geneva Motors and it surely won the award for the longest name on any concept on display.

QUANT e-Sportlimosine

Here’s some basic specs on the, let’s just call it e-Sport:

Gull wing doors are 6.6 feet long

Vehicle length 207 inches

Wheelbase 206.5 inches

Curb weigh 5,017 pounds

Four electric motors (one per wheel)

Total power output of 644 hp and 8,555 pound-feet of torque

0 to 62 mph in 2.8 seconds

Top speed of 236-plus MPH

From here on out, everything gets really radical, like how QUANT describes this nanoFLOWCELL system:

“[It] works like a combination of a battery and a fuel cell using liquid electrolyte, which is kept in two tanks and pumped through the cell. At the heart of the system is a membrane that separates two differing chemistries. A controlled exchange of charges releases energy for the electric powertrain.”

“Until now, flow cells based on redox principles have been too heavy and their energy conversion rates too sluggish for use in mobile applications.”

“This is where the nanoFLOWCELL technology opens the door to a broad palette of new technical opportunities. The improvements that have given the system such a major performance boost are the result of research into the quantum chemistry of electrolytic fluids. The most important innovation of the nanoFLOWCELL is in its significantly higher charge- and power-density thanks to an extremely high concentration of ionic charge carriers in the cell system’s electrolyte.”

QUANT e-Sportlimosine

Quant is apparently working with Bosch to get this nanoFLOWCELL system into production.

A few more specs/details:

Total range of up to 373 miles

Road-ready prototype expected in late 2014

Commercialization by 2015

QUANT e-Sportlimosine Info

From the sign in Geneva next to e-Sport, we see the following:

“The new QUANT e-Sportlimosine – with its new powertrain and storage concepts – is a quantum leap in the development of electric mobility. Built around an extremely stable monocoque composed of carbon fiber structures, the four seater with gull-wing doors is an innovative and intelligent vehicle concept that delivers mobility free from exhaust gases. Four electric motors make each wheel a drive wheel. They draw their power from a completely from a completely new battery system that is guaranteed to draw attention of scientists and researchers around the globe. The nanoFLOWCELL energy storage system works on the tried and tested principles of the redox flow cell. The nanoFLOWCELL, however, extends the technical characteristics and possibilities of this technology to new heights. The most important innovation in the nanoFLOWCELL system is its significantly increased charge – and performance-density over other systems, thanks to an increase in the number of ionic charge carriers in the battery system’s electrolytes. In short: The Quant e-Sportlimosine is the beginning of a new age of electric mobility”

“…liquid electrolyte…” That means pretty much any electrolyte that can be passed through a battery to release energy. This electrolyte could be swapped out at a electrolyte station with fully charged electrolyte.

You charge most flow cells like a normal battery. It is half way between a hydrogen fuel cell and a battery i.e. it runs on a liquid “fuel” the electrolyte, but doesn’t release anything to the atmosphere. You could in theory empty the tanks and then re-fill them with fresh material or you could have a fast charger that sucks the fuel/electrolytes out and regenerates them external to the car and then puts it back in the car.

Flow batteries are generally thought of as a cheaper way to store a lot of energy but don’t give out much power, hence the super caps. There are still issues with energy density which is why the thing weighs 5 ton. Interesting concept though, good to see the automotive industry innovating.

They had a story on here about this battery tech in the 1980’s that it could recharge like a normal EV and give a car the size of a Nissan Leaf 130 miles. So it looks like someone did a little digging and restored this 1980’s tech and updated it.

I’d love to know more about that electrolyte. How much money/energy does it take to create it? Is it made from anything toxic? What happens to the spent electrolyte? It looks like it gets stored in a second tank. So refueling involves filling tank 1 and emptying tank 2?

Ultimately producing and distributing the electrolyte has to compare favorably to hydrogen, otherwise this whole thing is DOA.

All very important questions but not DOA. It is just a concept. And even if the process is currently expensive it does not mean it will remain so. Still, I am hit with the same questions Brian. This process in a concept car probably excites me though as much as anything posted from the show so far.

True. I understand that it is a concept (and an intriguing one at that). My point was that if you have to replace the electrolyte to refuel, then it necessarily competes with hydrogen fuel cells. Therefore, that is the benchmark I chose (since many major companies are investing heavily in it).

As for expenses coming down, well we’re already seeing that in BEVs and to a lesser extent FCVs. The race is definitely on for the future!

It works with a flow battery. That means the charge is stored in a liquid electrolyte. As the battery operates, the car is constantly pumping fresh (charged) electrolyte into the battery. When recharging, the pump works in reverse, and keeps putting discharged electrolyte into the battery to be charged. If desired, you can also pump out the discharged electrolyte and replace it with charged electrolyte. So you have the option of treating it like a normal BEV, but you also have the option of having refueling stations.

There is likely to be some concern when refueling of getting low quality electrolyte fluid. Unlike gasoline, you will be reusing the electrolyte for several dozen to several hundred cycles before you replace it, so one bad fill is a serious problem. There are other problems with flow batteries, but they are claiming to have fixed them.

Thanks. It wasn’t clear to me that the electrolyte was reusable in place (i.e. that the car could actually “recharge” it, rather than replace it). From your description it sounds a lot like refueling a Model S – in practice you recharge the battery whenever it runs down, but in theory (and with infrastructure), you could quickly swap it out for a fully charged battery and continue on your way.

Actually, looking at their description, it might not be. Flow batteries can be recharged, but they do not mention plugging the car in. So they may have left the charger out. I suspect that if flow batteries are used in production cars, they will work with standard EV charging infrastructure.

So JKW does this mean you make the electrolyte at home using electricity, then fill up the tank before you go to work, and then dump the tank into the ‘home charger’ when you get back home to have it reconstitute it for the next day? How efficient is that process overall, in other words, to get 1kwh out of the car ‘battery’ how many kwh’s do you have to put in at home?

No, you can leave all the electrolyte in the car while charging/discharging. The user experience will be the same as any other battery, except that you also have the option of swapping out the electrolyte fluid to get it fully charged again. You could in principle have a large electrolyte tank at home that you continuously recharge and then exchange the fluid instead of plugging the car in. But the chemicals tend to be moderately dangerous and refueling will require either training or robotic operation.

As far as efficiencies and other details, you would have to ask the people who make the battery. Their description just calls it a flow battery, without specifying what chemicals they are using. As they admit, most chemicals used in flow batteries haven’t been considered suitable for automotive use. Clearly, they have something new and different, but they haven’t actually specified what it is. They claim 80% efficiency in their press release:

Very interesting that they are claiming a 100 fold increase in longevity. My take on the paragraphs mentioned is that ‘discharge efficiency’ is 80% (hence the high temperatures), so I’m assuming round trip efficiency is therefore 64%?

They don’t seem to mention the ‘recharging process’ at all. I’m making the big assumption this battery can be recharged. Of course, if it can easily, why didn’t they put a charging plug on the concept car? That would really generate big interest in the technology if they had done so.